


Mostlystuckony's Tumblr Prompts

by Aprilmallick



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other, Shifter AU, Stucky - Freeform, Team Bonding, Team as Family, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Tumblr Prompts, Winter Iron - Freeform, phlint - Freeform, poly avengers, stuckony - Freeform, super family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-21 22:52:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14295204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aprilmallick/pseuds/Aprilmallick
Summary: A collection of all tumblr requests that I've answered.  (The tumblr is called mostlystuckony).  Enjoy!(pleasepleaseplease give me prompts.  in the comments or directly to my Tumblr, I don't care.)Chapter 1 - StuckonyChapter 2 - Platonic, pre-Poly-Avengers, or pre-Stony.  However one chooses to read it.Chapter 3 + 4 (two parts) - Platonic Avengers with a hint of Stony and Thruce, maybe Pre-poly??? I don't even know.Chapter 5 - WinterIronChapter 6 - Platonic Avengers, pre-Stony if you squintChapter 7 - StuckonyChapter 8 - Clint/TonyChapter 9 - M'baku/TonyChapter 10 - M'baku/TonyChapter 11 - T'challa/M'baku/TonyChapter 12 -  M'baku/Tony, but the end is sort of T'challa/M'baku/TonyChapter 13 - M'baku/Tony





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> prompt:
> 
> Stuckony in a steady relationship but somehow neither steve nor bucky know a lot about the arc reactor (he can still have it or not, you decide) or the effects of it. But in my mind, Tony suffered, and maybe still suffers a lot of chronic pain because of it and therefore doesn’t react normally to pain. This explains why he downplays his injuries after fights and the like. And I would love if steve and bucky realised this maybe after tony gets a medium injury in the lab or a fight, and just doesn’t realise it. So they have to tell him, and then they have the talk about Tony’s pain and the reactor! (From @coookiemonsterns on tumblr)

It was after a battle with yet another alien race when Steve and Bucky found out the truth. They’d been with Tony for a while now, and they thought they knew all there was to know about him. He was allergic to seafood, loved cuddling, hated things being handed to him by people he didn’t trust, and he was all around kind of a reckless fool who refused to look after his health properly, but would let Steve and Bucky (and sometimes even the other avengers) do it for him.

What they didn’t know was that he was nearly oblivious to pain.

It happened in classic Tony style. He’d refused to go to medical after the battle, which was pretty normal. He swore up and down that he felt fine, so no one insisted. He was usually okay because of his armour anyways.

He seemed fine the entire day, but night was a different story.

“You coming to bed, doll?” Bucky called down into his workshop.

“Depends,” Tony threw back, “You Brooklyn boys gonna make it worth my while?”

“We’ll make sure you get a good nights sleep?” Steve offered from behind Bucky. “We’ve all had a long day, sweetheart. Let us take care of you.”

Tony grumbled, but he eventually followed the super soldiers to their shared bedroom.

All three of them usually slept with their shirts off. They liked the skin-on-skin contact, plus Tony said that the other two were like his own personal heaters.

When Tony pulled his shirt off tonight, instead of the usual admiring glances he got, he was met with twin looks of horror.

“What?” He asked defensively.

Steve raised an arm and gestured wordlessly at the geniuses torso. Tony looked down.

“Oh.” His entire middle body was mottled with scary looking dark purple bruises. “Huh. I didn’t even notice.”

“Y-you didn’t notice?!” Bucky practically shrieked. He hurried over to gently run a finger over the mottled skin. Tony didn’t even flinch.

Steve came over too, looking a little faint. “Sweetheart, I know you don’t like getting checked out by medical but this is a whole new level! You must be in so much pain, don’t downplay it for us.”

Tony cocked his head. “No, guys, I’m really fine. I barely feel anything.”

“I don’t understand.” Bucky whispered. “How do you just not feel that.”

“We need Bruce to take a look at you.” Steve said briskly, “to make sure nothing is broken inside.”

Tony actually looked offended at that. “No! I know what broken ribs feel like, that makes the reactor hurt more. I just got squeezed really tightly by one of those tentacle things. It’ll clear up in a a few weeks. Less, if I use that cream Pepper got me.”

Bucky, ever observant, said, “Wait, more? The arc reactor is hurting you?”

The billionaire shrugged uncomfortably. “I mean … yeah, I thought that was obvious. You can’t just implant something this big into your chest with no problems. Well,” he squinted at his boyfriends, “YOU might be able to. I however, am only human.”

“Tony.” Steve said softly, trailing his fingers over Tony’s shoulder, “Baby, honey, sweetheart, why didn’t you tell us? Is that why you always downplay your injuries? Because you really think they’re not as bad as they are?”

Tony looked down and didn’t answer.

Bucky started prodding them all to the bed. “Doll, we’re sorry we didn’t realize. From now on you’re going to have to let someone check you over after battles even if you think your fine. If you really can’t feel that,” he gestured to Tony’s torso, “then you might someday have damage that can’t be undone. We don’t wanna see you get hurt.”

Tony didn’t look too happy about it as they all layed down, him in the middle as usual. “Only Bruce.”

“Only Bruce.” Steve agreed, draping an arm around his injured boyfriend. “Does he know about the pain caused by the reactor?”

“Duh, we’re science bros. We know everything about each other.” Tony wiggled his eyebrows mischievously.

“I’m gonna stop you right there.” Bucky said dryly. “Some things are better left unknown.”

“Alright, alright.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Now didn’t you fellows promise me a full nights sleep?” He cuddled into them more closely.

“Yeah, you can go to sleep sweet thing.” Bucky said softly, his eyes going all gentle, running his fingers through the man’s hair in a way that was guaranteed to make him relax.

“You’re still checking in with Bruce tommorow.” Steve mumbled sleepily, right before they all dropped off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based off of my post: In the first Avengers movie when Tony flies to Stark Tower to face Loki, (alone and without his armour) he tells Loki about the Avengers. “Sorta like a team,” he says. But he doesn’t include himself in it. Can we talk about this? (@mostlystuckony on tumblr)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can be read as completely platonic, poly-avengers, or Stony. Really, just take you pick.

“Tony,” Steve said, from the doorway of Tony’s workshop, “we want to talk to you about something.”

Tony barely looked up from his work station where he was reparing Dum-E for the upteenth time. “Yeah? Looks like you’re the only one here. Who’s ‘we’?”

“Come upstairs with me.” Steve said. He hesitated. “Please. We just want to talk.”

“I’m busy Cap. Go away.”

Steve came a little closer. “You never call me by my first name.” He noted, frowning. “Or any of us.”

Tony finally looked up. “Just … come back later. I don’t have time for this team bonding crap you’re clearly trying to pull. I’m giving all of you whatever you need. Just say thanks and leave it at that.”

His stomach churned at the thought of seeing them. The Avengers. Which, technically, he wasn’t part of anymore now that the emergency was over.

“Tony,” Steve tried, “the team just wants to-”

Yeah,  _the_  team. Not his team. Tony doesn’t have one, he works alone. If only it didn’t hurt so damn much, after knowing what being part of a team felt like.

“-make sure you’re okay. You faced off against Loki alone and flew a missile into space. We’re worried about you. We’ve barely seen you since you invited us to move in.”

Yeah  _right_ , the team was worried about him, Tony thought bitterly. If anything, they were worried he’d kick them out or stop making them pretty new toys.

Steve didn’t seem to want to leave him alone. “Jarvis, when’s the last time Tony ate?”

“It has been approaching approximately 16 hours and twenty-nine minutes since Sir last ingested anything of substance.” The AI said smugly.

Tony glared up at the ceiling. “It’s fine, Cap.” He said appeasingly. “I’ve gone much longer. I have another couple of hours before I start feeling shaky.”

Steve frowned severely at him. “No, Tony. That’s not healthy. You’re coming up and eating some food. We really need to discuss something with you.”

Tony really didn’t want to, but Cap seemed firm on the matter. Putting down his screwdriver and giving his robot child a good-bye pat, he followed the super-soldier upstairs to the common floor.

Every one was already gathered, Bruce making food in the kitchen, talking with Thor who was laughing uproriously at something the scientist had said.

Clint and Natasha were in the living room watching some fantasy show, both looking very confusedly at the screen as if they had no idea why they were watching it in the first place.

When they caught sight of Steve and Tony Natasha quickly turned it off, which seemed rather ominous.

Steve steered to genius to the two-seater couch. He handed Tony a glass of water, sat down next to him, and stared at him pointedly until he took a tiny sip.

“Here.” Bruce shoved a plate of tofu stir-fry onto his lap.

“Ah … thanks, Brucie.” Tony wasn’t the biggest fan of tofu, but he’d try it for his science bro’s sake. He took a bite, finding that to his surprise, it was actually delicious.

Everyone settled into seats, watching Tony eat. (He was actually pushing the food around his plate more than actually eating. They were making him nervous.)

“So … you guys got me.” he said finally, breaking the rather awkward silence. “You can talk to me while I eat, you know.”

“Fine, but you need to actually eat, not just sit there with food on your lap,” Steve said sternly, fixing him with a glare.

Tony pointedly took another bite of the stir-fry.

“We saw the footage.” Natasha said finally.

Tony choked for a second, before taking a sip of water. “The footage of what?”

Please don’t say my sex tape, he prayed.

“Your conversation with Loki.” Bruce said.

“Ah, that.” Tony said dismissively. Then he stiffened. “Why, did I say something to him that I shouldn’t have?”

“No.” Steve hesitated. “You just … what you said to him was great. Speech worthy of me, actually.”

Clint snorted at the same time as Tony.

“But you told him about us, The Avengers. You called us a team. But when you were going through the list of people he’d pissed off, you didn’t include yourself.”

Tony’s throat went dry. He hadn’t even noticed at the time, he’d thought his presence alone made it obvious that he was out for blood. After the fact, reviewing the footage, he was glad he skipped over himself. That way he had no illusions about being part of the team once Loki was dealt with. He wasn’t really in The Avengers. The words “not recommended” swam in his vision.

“I-”

“Were you not as saddened by son of Coul’s death as we were?” Thor boomed. It wasn’t in an accusatory way, Thor just didn’t quite have the hang of regulating his inside voice yet.

Tony was feeling a little defensive anyways. “Of course I was! What was I-”

“You know you’re part of the team, right Tony?” Clint asked quietly.

Tony stopped talking abruptly. For a second there was dead silence. He took another bite of food before replying.

“No I’m not.”

Bruce frowned. “Tony-”

“I’m not!” Tony snapped, putting his plate down. He tried to get up, but Cap put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to stay seated.

"Why d'you think that you’re not one of us?” Steve asked quietly.

“Because of her!” Tony said, glaring at Natasha, who stiffened. “Tony Stark - not recommended. That’s what you said, right? I might be The Avenger’s consultant, but I’m not one of you. Fury wouldn’t allow it.”

“Well this isn’t Fury’s team, it’s mine.” Steve said.

Natasha cut him off. “Tony. You have no idea how much I regret writing that. I didn’t know that you were dying at the time, and after sacrificing yourself for the world, you clearly proved me wrong.”

“Dying?” Steve demanded, but Natasha cut him off again.

“Either way, no matter who’s team it is.” She glanced at Steve, who was looking very agitated. “I changed my recommendation two days after the battle. You  _are_  one of us.”

Tony slumped back, his head spinning at the sudden revelation. “I-I am?”

“Indeed, you are a worthy shield brother!” Thor said enthusiastically. Then his expression dimmed a bit. “We were not aware that you felt apart from us.”

“Tony.” Clint said gently, “we all saw you fly that nuke into the sky. That was- that was really brave of you. None of us had any doubt you were part of the team after that.”

“Except for me.” Tony muttered, more to himself then to them.

“Do you get it now?” Bruce asked softly.

Tony looked up at Clint. “You really think I’m brave?”

“We all do.” Steve informed him. “And we all know that you’re not actually a selfish arrogant, asshole, now too.”

“I- wow.” Tony didn’t know what to say. No one had ever told him that before except for Rhodey. Not even Pepper.

“So will you stop hiding in your workshop and spend some time with us occasionally?” Steve asked.

Tony looked around at everyone looking hopefully at him. They actually … wanted his presence. How strange. “I guess so.” He said finally.

Clint punched the air victoriously. “Yes! Movie night! At least weekly. Tony, want to pick the first movie?”

Tony smiled. “Oh hell yes. Cap, Thor, you guys seen Star Wars yet?”


	3. Tony Whump Prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony centric with some pretty unlikely team-bonding, courtesy of Nicholas J Fury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not sure what this ended up being? The prompt was: Tony staggering or walking ungracefully before he can catch themselves, shivering long after everyone else has stopped, and scared to sleep around others because of nightmares.   
> From tumblr user fandoms-are-my-life-style

Tony was really having an off day.

He wasn’t sure when the actual day had started exactly, because it’d been a while since he’d last slept, but at some point everything had gone to shit.

It had started with the battle alarm going off. Wait, no. It had started when he spilled coffee all over himself right  _before_  the alarm went off.  And Dum-E’s reaction had been to drench him with the fire extinguisher. 

There’d been no time to change and Tony had been forced to go into battle with stained wet clothes.

He’d gone upstairs to find the rest of the team assembled already.

Bruce frowned as Tony stumbled towards them, but he didn’t have time to say anything before Steve was mother henning them.

“Iron Man.” He said.

“Still Tony, not in the suit yet.” Tony answered, falling into place beside Natasha, who was already suited up. He almost tripped, regained his balance a little, and started to teeter. Nat caught him by the arm, giving him a slightly concerned side-glance.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Tony then. You’re going to need to suit up. The mission is in the middle of nowhere, and it’s cold.”

“Don’t worry Cap, I’ve got insulated heating. I’ll be fine. Everyone else’s winter gear is functioning, right?”

There were murmurs of assent from everyone.

“Alright then.” Steve said, “let’s head out. Tony, you fly ahead of the quinjet and let us know what we’re up against.”

“On it.”

Tony called the suit and took off to the coordinates that Jarvis so helpfully provided him with. (He might have dozed off on the way a little, sue him. Jarvis was an excellent co-pilot)

“Okay, Iron Man, what are we looking at?” Steve’s voice came through his comm.

Tony scanned the snow-covered ground with every special feature his armour had. “I’m not seeing anything. What did the call say?”

“It just called for The Avengers to come to these coordinates. Said it was the world ending type of situation. The call came directly from S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“There’s gotta be something.” Tony muttered to himself.

Without warning, the Iron Man suit shut off completely, and Tony started to fall. “Cap? I’m being knocked out of the sky!" 

There was no response. Tony realized that of course, if the suit wasn’t functioning, neither was his communications.  He could do nothing except watch the ground rush up to him.

Tony hit the ground landing face-up. Luckily, he hadn’t been flying all that high, and the snow made for a semi-soft landing.

Within five minutes, the air was full of the sound of the quinjet. Tony, stuck in his immobile armour, couldn’t signal to them, but his suit stood out starkly enough against the white landscape.

Tony could only watch helplessly as the plane hit presumably the same spot he had, and went down.

Luckily, due to inertia, Tony wasn’t crushed. The plane crashed down literal inches from where he was laying.

For a few heartstopping seconds, Tony wondered if they’d all been injured in the collison. Then the emergency side door was forcefully opened, and Steve came tumbling out.

"Tony? Tony!” Steve plowed through the snow and dropped at Tony’s side, ripping off the face plate.

“Yeah yeah, I’m all good.” Tony reassured him. “I’m just a little bit stuck … ”

“How do I get you out of there?” Steve asked determinedly.

Behind him, Tony could see Thor and Clint exiting the quinjet and coming over, Clint looking back apprehensively.

“There’s a manual unlocking mechanism under a panel on the side.” Tony told him. “You know, so that I won’t accidentally get ejected out of it during battle.”

“But you’re not hurt?” Steve asked. He found the panel. The armour collapsed into the snow, leaving Tony completely exposed.

“I will be if I don’t get out of this cold.” Tony said, gritting his teeth and wrapping his arms around himself to stave off the shivering. He could already feel his chest and stiff joints aching more from the cold.

Thor muscled his way forwards, scooping Tony up and carrying him towards the plane.

“ _Thank_  you.” Tony huddled into the god’s chest, greatfull for the extra warmth.

“Wait!” Clint said, “Nat was calming the big guy down so he wouldn’t wreck anything.”

All four men stared at the quinjet apprehensively.

Natasha poked her head out. “It’s all clear!” She called. “You guys going to just stand there and freeze?”

Inside the quinjet was warmer than the outside, but it was quickly dropping. Steve had kicked the door open, thereby damaging it and now it couldn’t close completely. Tony had the bright idea of stuffing it with something, and Thor obligingly took off his asgardian scarf and offered it up.

Bruce wasn’t looking too hot.

“Is everyone okay?” Tony asked.

“I just got really startled.” Bruce was clearly feeling extremely guilty.

“It’s fine.” Natasha told him. “The Hulk didn’t smash anything or hurt anyone.”

“Barton, Romanoff. You’re both okay?” Tony persisted.

“Yeah, I wasn’t flying us too high.” Clint assured him. “We were planning on unrealistically jumping out of the plane like badasses and into the battle.”

“There is no battle here.” Thor boomed.

All of them looked at each other uneasily. Thor was right. There was just white snow stretching out for as far as any of them could see.

“Hey, Tony?” Natasha said.

“Yeah?”

“Are  _you_  okay?”

Tony frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be-”

“You’re shivering.” She interrupted.

“Nat’s right.” Bruce squinted at him. “And your clothes are wet. Why are they wet? You were outside like that, even if it was just for a minute.”

Oh. Right, the continuing of the bad. (besides for being knocked out of the sky and sent on what was apparently a false mission) Wet clothes in the cold = pneumonia, Tony’s brain informed him

“Shit.” He muttered.

“You need to change.” Cap said. He didn’t even reprimand Tony’s language, which meant he was  _really_  worried. “ _Now_ , Tony.”

“I-I don’t think theres any other clothes here,” the genius said, teeth chattering. He swore he could feel the damp parts of his clothing stiffening and turning to ice.

“Take your shirt off.” Natasha ordered.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Do it.” Bruce agreed.

Tony shrugged his T-shirt off, very self conscious of the arc-reactor and the scars surrounding it. Clint handed him the shock blanket that was most often used by Bruce post-battle.

Wrapping it around himself, Tony glared at them. “I’m not taking the bottom half off. I’m pretty sure my underwear is wet and as much as I’m sure all of you would enjoy it, I’m not stripping in front of you.”

“I have an extra pair of pants.” Bruce said, “courtesy of the Hulk. Please keep the underpants on though.”

“We won’t peek, promise.” Clint said, wiggling his eyebrows in a way that implied he’d definitely be peeking. Nat elbowed him.

Tony gingerly shimmied out of his pants, trying to keep the blanket somewhat draped around him both to keep warm and protect his teammates eyes.

He felt a little better once his legs were dry, but he was still shivering more violently than ever.

“So does anyone have an idea of what made everything stop working?” Clint asked

“It must have been an EMP.” Tony said. “Which means someone wants to keep us here.”

He was uncomfortably aware that EMP’s rendered only him useless.  Cap still had the shield, Bruce could still Hulk-out, Clint could manually reach his arrows, even without the electric swivelling quiver, Nat still had knives and Thor could still use his hammer.  The suit on the other hand, was now reduced to a hunk of metal.

Everyone tensed, glancing towards the windows nervously.

“I’m going to check storage, see if we have any more knives.” Natasha said.

“Guys, look at this.” She came back a minute later, a note in hand.

“It says, ‘Enjoy your team bonding session. -Fury’” Steve read.

“And the storage unit is full of pillows and blankets.” Said Natasha.

“Well that’s just great.” Tony said.

Steve’s face contorted in worry and he went to the back of the plane, rummaged through storage, and handed Tony a blanket.

“If we’re going to be here for a while then we need to figure out how to keep warm.”

“Cap and Thor. You guys generate more body heat than the rest of us, so prepare to become our personal heaters.” Natasha announced.

“This’ll be fun.” Clint chimed in. “Like a slumber party.”

“We should hang some of the blankets over the window to insulate it.” Bruce said.

“But then some of us shall be blanket-less!” Thor protested.

“It’s actually a better idea for us to share blankets and cuddle. It’ll conserve body heat.” Bruce told him causually.

Thor brightened instantly. “On Asgard cuddling is considered the best way to bond with our brothers and sisters! I shall much enjoy cuddling with you, friend Bruce.”

Tony wasn’t sure if it was the lighting or what, but Bruce looked like he might be blushing.

“And the rest of you, of course.” Thor added.

“Alright.” Cap conceded. “Window insulation and team cuddling it is.”

“And um.” Bruce shifted uncomfortably. “The absolutely best way to conserve body heat is to cuddle naked.”

“Oh hell no,” said Natasha. “No offense but I’m not getting naked with any of you.” Then she sent a considering glance around the cabin. “At least not in this current situation.”

“None taken.” Steve said. “But us guys can take our shirts off if you’re okay with that?”

Natasha nodded. “That’s fine.”

“Oh joy, Thor and Cap shirtless.” Tony muttered. Clint looked a little insulted.

“Tony, you’re coming over here.” Steve said. He gathered the scientist up in his arms.

“Wait, What’s happening?” Tony asked, squirming and bewildered.

Clint handed Steve another blanket, which he wrapped around him and Tony. “You’re still shivering.” He said patiently. “I’m going to warm you up, is all.”

Tony huddled reluctantly into Steve. He wasn’t so cool with so much touching from people besides for Pepper and Rhodey.

But Steve was warm, so there was that.

“We should play a game or something.” Clint said, after the sheet had been put over the window and everyone was cuddled in close to each other.

Everyone looked at him.

“What?  It’s supposed to be team bonding anyways, and it’s going to be really boring sitting around and doing nothing.”

“He’s right.”  Natasha shrugged.  “Never have I ever?”

“I do not know of this game, but I shall be pleased to learn!”  said Thor. 

“Can we at least try to keep it clean?”  Bruce pleaded.  

“There’s no fun in clean games, Brucey,” Tony said, shaking his head.

Surprisingly, Tony felt Steve’s chest rumble with a laugh behind him.  Huh, maybe the captain wasn’t such a tightass after all. 

That was how Tony’s terrible day started coming to an end.  First though, the worst part had to happen. 

The night itself had been fun. Snacking on food they had found in the storage room, they played not only never have I ever, but also truth or dare (mostly just truth, since nobody wanted to get up) and exchanged a lot of childhood stories.

That last bit had turned sharply into a DMC since they’d all had fairly shitty childhoods, with the exception of Thor. 

Finally the conversation had dwindled and Steve insisted they all get some sleep.  

The quinjet seriously looked like something out of a teen sleepover.  There were pillows spread all across the space to serve as one huge makeshift mattress.  Everyone was draped over each other, surprisingly at ease, and fast asleep.

Well, everyone except for Tony.  He could feel sleep pulling at him, and sure, maybe he hadn’t actually gotten any rest in several days but he couldn’t fall asleep.  He just couldn’t.  

Tony avoided sleeping at all if he could help it, but one thing he wouldn’t compromise on was sleeping in front of others. The nightmares were bad enough without an audience to experience his pitiful whimpers and screaming himself awake.

Pepper had already left him when she found out.  First she was mad he wasn’t sleeping, then she was mad he kept accidentally waking her up.  

She had started off consoling and supportive, but in time it had turned into “I can’t do this Tony.  We can’t be together if we can’t even sleep in the same room.”

Tony shuddered, remembering how much worse the nightmares had gotten when he realized she wasn’t there when he woke up.  The dreams about losing her had almost tripled.  

He’d gotten over that eventually, though. Now all his terror centered around flying into the portal alone, sure he was going to die, Afganistan, and the team abandoning him.   

“Tony?” Steve whispered.  “Are you still awake?”

For a second Tony considered not answering and pretending to be asleep but he was sure Steve wouldn’t have asked unless he was sure Tony was up.

“Yeah, Can’t sleep.”  Tony tried to pass it off as nothing important. 

“Are you warm enough?” 

To Tony’s dismay, Steve started sitting up, and the other Avengers began stirring.

“No! dont-”

“Go to sleep Tony.”  Clint mumbled.

“I  _can’t_.”  Tony hissed. To his everlasting shame, tears began forming in his eyes.  It had to be the exhaustion. Everyone cried a little when they were  massively sleep deprived. 

“Why are we awake again?”  Bruce sat up, disentangling himself from Thor and Natasha, rubbing his eyes.

“Tony can’t sleep.”  Nat told him.

“Tell us what ails you, friend Anthony.  Thor said, his voice surprisingly gentle.

“It’s nothing.  Insomnia.”  Tony muttered, refusing to look any of them in the eyes. 

“It’s more than that.”  Steve frowned.  “C’mon, you can tell us.”

“Is it nightmares?”  Natasha asked quietly.

Reluctantly, Tony nodded.  

Thor reached for him and started rocking Tony in his ginormous arms.

“Um. What are you doing, big guy?”  Clint asked cautiously.  

Tony was too caught off guard to speak. 

“Loki used to have many a nightmare when he was younger.”  Thor explained.  “This always managed to soothe him.”

“How long has it been since you slept?”  Bruce asked.

“I don’t even know.”  Tony admitted.  “Jarvis would know.”

“You need sleep.”  Steve said firmly.

“I told you already, I  _can’t_.”  Tony said desperately. 

“Because you’ll have nightmares?” Steve asked.

“Yes!”

“We all have nightmares, Tony.”  Clint said quietly.  “I dream about being controlled by Loki almost every night.”  He glance at Thor. “Uh. No offense.”

“None taken.”  Thor assured him.

“Sometimes I dream about all the people I killed.”  Natasha confessed.

“Me too.”  Bruce said.

“I dream about the plane going down, and  losing Bucky, and sometimes about losing you guys.”  Steve said quietly.  

Tony looked at him, speechless. 

“Sometimes I have to yell myself awake.”  Bruce told him. “It’s okay if you do too.”

Tony wanted to protest, but Natasha sat next to Thor and started carding her fingers through his hair, and he helplessly succumbed to their gentle comfort. 

And if he woke up gasping, sure that he was dying, someone was there to calm him down and help him get back to sleep.  

He also wasn’t the only one.  Clint woke up and immediately reached for his bow before realizing where he was.  Steve woke up yelling “Bucky!”  and Bruce curled into him comfortingly.

In the morning, Fury pried the quinjet door open and found them tangled in a mess of limbs and smiled, because their forced team bonding had been far more succesfull than he’d imagined.

It was totally worth the way all of them tried to kill him the second they woke up. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From Caitlin - Hm...perhaps when the team get back, they tear into Fury about how the 'team building' exercise could've caused them to end up far worse than they did?   
> Basically, a part two to chapter 3.

Fury’s plan had definitely not been worth it to The Avengers.

A second after he pried the quinjet door open (it fell off of its hinges, blasting the team with snow and cold air) the majority of the team verbally attacked him. Tony and Bruce did not. 

Tony was holding a green-ish looking Bruce back, whispering soothing things into his ear. 

“How could you do this to Tony? To us?” A shirtless Steve yelled at Fury. Actually, all of the males were bare-chested, he noticed belatedly, as Tony blushed from the corner.

“Putting y’all in a non-lethal setting with no way out was deemed most to be the most effective way to make you bond!” Fury shouted back. “And what makes Stark special?”

“The man of Iron was knocked from the sky when he was acting as our scout.” Thor growled, crossing his arms, making hs muscles stand out more prominently. “Our flying ship could have crushed him.”

“This very well could have been lethal!” Steve bellowed. “Putting four humans, one who is The Hulk, in a very cold place without warning or heat could have good and well killed all of us.” 

“Oh please.” Fury scoffed. “Stark and Banner are geniuses. There was no way any of you could have died.”

“Tony was almost crushed by the quinjet and Bruce could have very well destroyed everything when he hulked out and left us all in the cold with nothing.” Natasha said evenly. “It’s pure luck that neither of those things happened.” While her tone was mild, her expression was making the director feel a little threatened. 

Fury was starting to lose his bluster. “Well you bonded, and that’s the important thing. My plan worked.”

“We’ll be doing our own team bonding from now on.” Steve growled. “You and S.H.I.E.L.D can stay out of our business.”

“Fine!” Fury threw back, “I’ll just deactivate the EMP and y’all can find your own way home. Have fun trying to be a real team without us.”

“We’ll do just fine,” Clint said. His face was stonier than Fury had ever seen it, including the time he’d threatened to close off the vents so that the archer couldn’t get into them. 

Fury turned on his heel and stalked awkwardly back to his helicopter through the snow. 

A few seconds later Tony announced that they were back online. 

“How do you know?” Steve wondered.

“My watch is working again, see?” Tony held his wrist up excitedly. 

“What are you going to do with the armor?” Bruce asked.

“Eh, i’ll just leave it.” Tony shrugged dismissively. “I can just call it back to the tower later, it’ll dig itself out somehow, and if not then I’ve still got plenty of suits.”

Clint went to the cockpit to restart the quinjet. They were all relieved when it roared to life. 

“Strap in,” Steve advised, “We don’t know if the door will hold and we don’t want anyone flying out.”

The ride back to the tower was insurmountably better than the ride there. The tension that always came before a battle wasn’t present, although many of them were stiff with anger over what Fury had done. 

“I mean, as bad as that was, I’m glad we bonded,” Clint ventured, once they were safely back in the tower.

“We should do things to make sure we stay that way,” Tony suggested. 

They all looked at him, intrigued. 

“Regular team dinners?” Cap suggested.

“And movie nights!” Thor said enthusiastically. Out of everything in the future, of course movies had been one of the things that he was most impressed with. 

“No argument here.” Tony grinned, “We still need to educate the old man and the alien on modern life.”

Bruce and Natasha were on board with the idea too. 

“But mostly,” Bruce said, fixing them all with a piercing gaze, “we have to come to each other when we need help. All of us have been keeping things inside for far too long. We don’t have to do that anymore. Never did.” 

“Friend Banner is correct,” Thor said, “and I can only speak for myself -- but I am also happy to give physical comfort to anyone in need as well.”

“Same here,” Steve said quietly. 

“So, trauma-bonded family for life?” Natasha said finally, breaking the (actually rather comfortable) silence. 

Tony grinned at her. “Definitely. Come on, all. For our first team dinner, we’re getting takeout, unless any of you can cook.”

“I can cook,” Bruce admitted, “but i’d rather not right now.”

“Me too,” said Natasha.

“Takeout it is! Do we want Shawarma? I’m feeling shawarma.” 

“Sure, Tony.” Steve smiled warmly at him. 

None of them had ever had it before but it turned out, shawarma? Delicious. Especially when shared with one’s best friends in the world.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Tony and Bucky trapped under a building collapse and Tony doesn't have his suit! Possibly with head wound?

“Shit,” Bucky hissed, looking around wildly. “Shit shit shit.”

He was going to kill the new handler. He and Tony had been told to investigate the basement together.

“It's perfectly safe!” And all that. So safe that they didn't need any protective gear.

And now he was in a cave-in with Tony, who was unconscious from a head wound. He really should have seen this coming. 

Right when they’d been flirting, too!

“Bucky?”

Oh thank god, the communications were still working.

“Steve. Tony and I are trapped. He’s unconscious.”

“But you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” Bucky said shortly, “but Tony isn’t. Get us out of here.”

“We’re coming. But it’s unstable.”

Bucky growled under his breath, ripping off a strip of his shirt to wrap Tony’s bleeding head.

“I’ll get you out of here, sweetheart, I promise.”

The only plus side was that neither of them were pinned down. They’d miraculously ended up in a small non caved-in space. Well, mostly. There was still rubble everywhere.

Toy let out a faint groan and his eyelids fluttered but didn’t open.

“It’ll be okay,” Bucky said, finishing up the makeshift bandage. “The team will get us out, you’ll be fine.”

He was really talking more to himself than Tony at this point. After all, the genius probably couldn’t even hear him.

\----------

A few hours later they had finally been rescued. Bucky had talked to Tony the entire time they were trapped. Tony had only woken up once, briefly. He’d seemed very confused, but then he’d just said, “It’s fine. You’ll take care of me.” And then he’d lost consciousness again.

It was terrifying, looking down at Tony in the hospital bed although scans had shown no permanent rain damage, which was relieving. It seemed he only had a very minor concussion which would probably leave him a bit confused for the next few days.

“You know you don’t have to stay with him.” Steve had entered the room. 

“Yes I do.”

“Just because you were the one with him in the cave-in doesn’t make him your responsibility.”

Bucky glared at his best friend. “I know he ain’t my responsibility. And that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I wanna be.”

“You-” Steve’s eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh. You . . . like him.”

“Yes.”

“I feel like you should ask for my blessings or something.”

Bucky blinked up at Steve silently. “As captain of the Avenger’s and Tony’s would-have been godparent, can I have your blessings to ask him out?”

“Hell yeah.” Steve smiled. “Make him happy, Buck. Someone needs to.”

Tony groaned and started to stir.

“You can go now,” Bucky said pointedly.

Steve held his hands up in surrender and walked out, throwing a wink behind him as he went.

“Tony? Honey?”

“Bucky?” Tony raised a hand to his forehead. “What happened?”

“Agent Feige is a moron is what happened,” Bucky said. “The super stable structure caved in on us.”

“Alliteration,” Tony murmured. “Nice.”

“What?”

“Super stable structure,” Tony repeated dopily. He grinned. 

Yikes, Tony Stark using grammar terms? Yep, he definitely had a concussion.

“You saved me,” Tony said, sober all of a sudden. “Thank you.”

“I can’t ask you out if you’re dead.” Bucky said.

“Can’t ask me out if you don’t ask,” Tony countered.

“You make a good point.” Bucky grinned, “Tony, will you do me the honour of letting me take you out on a date?”

“Yes.” Tony held up a finger. “One condition. We wait until I’m not in the hospital.”

“We’re gonna wait until your concussion is gone.”

“That’s fair.” Tony gave another dopey smile. “You have really nice arms.”

“Thank you. You also have nice arms.”

“Duh.” And then Tony fell asleep again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based off of this prompt: The Avengers have an activity night every week for team bonding. Each week a different person gets to pick the activity. Everything is great until they notice that whatever Tony picks is always something another team member likes to do (spa night for Natasha, football for Steve, paintball for Clint, etc.). When confronted, Tony claims that he just doesn’t have a favorite hobby, but in reality, it’s because he wants them to like him. The Avengers set out on a quest to find Tony’s favorite activity. (Tumblr user Tonystarkismyprompt)  
> Hint: It's being hugged (Tumblr user ssironstrange)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I got a lot of support while writing this. This means y'all are gonna send my Tumblr asks now, right?  
> Either way, enjoy!

All the avengers had  _something_  they liked to do. There was so much discord over what to do for their weekly activity that they made up a rotation schedule so everyone got a say.

The rules were simple: when it was your turn you picked the activity, but the others had veto power (it had to be unanimous). One could trade their turn to another in exchange for favors. Everyone had to participate (within reason).

Steve’s usually had something to do with learning more about the 21st Century, so generally watching a modern movie, or going to a museum.

Clint liked playing games, which often included dragging everyone out to arcades and carnivals.

Thor varied, but it was always something Darcy had told him to try because, “it’s a human tradition!”

Natasha was into spa days (nights) with everything. Manis, pedis, facial, full body massage, the whole shebang. She liked to relax, since she’d never been allowed that luxury as a child.

Bruce liked volunteering, at hospitals, at shelters, wherever people were having misfortune. It definitely wasn’t anyone’s favorite but it was important. (And it beat meditation. That had been vetoed).

The only one who didn’t have some sort of pattern in his turn was Tony. Tony seemed to rotate his activities to suit at least one member of the team at a time.

He’d hired an art teacher to give them an in-home sketch-n-sip class, since Steve liked painting. (And the rest of them liked to drink)

He suggested group baking and science experiments which made Thor and Bruce very happy.

Sometimes they’d play board games (the good ones, like Cards Against Humanity and What do you Meme). And sometimes he’d put on a disney film (everyone knew that Natasha loved them, even if she’d never admit it).

It wasn’t that Tony wasn’t enjoying the activities he picked, he just wasn’t picking for himself the way the rest of them did. He could have been happier. And the team noticed.

\----------

Natasha was the one who called everyone to discuss Tony.

“We have a mission,” she announced. “We must find what Tony likes to do, and pick that as our activity.”

“Definitely,” Steve agreed. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Natasha scowled. “Screw the right thing, he’s put on like 12 disney movies at this point. I owe him. I hate owing people.”

Nobody bought it. She obviously had a soft spot for the genius. They all did.

“How are we supposed to figure it out?” Bruce asked.

Nat frowned. “I was hoping one of us would just … know.”

“You’re a master spy,” Clint pointed out. “If you haven’t figured it out how the hell would we?”

“Friend Anthony keeps to himself too much for us to know what he enjoys,” said Thor.

He was right. They barely saw him outside of team bonding nights. Even Bruce, whom he ‘scienced’ with usually worked in a separate lab.

“Let’s just spit things out and do them until one sticks,” Steve suggested. “He likes his bots?”

“He likes making things explode,” Bruce added. “But I doubt it’s his favorite thing.”

“He likes coffee.”

“We can’t do an entire activity dedicated to coffee, Clint,” Steve said firmly. “Besides, we’re trying to switch the tower over to decaf, remember?”

Bruce looked at him in horror. “We are?”

“Don’t worry,” Clint stage-whispered into his ear, “Only Cap is on team decaf.”

“There’s no way his favorite thing is coffee,” Natasha said. “Thor, any ideas?”

“We are not close enough with Anthony to determine this. Why not ask someone who is?”

“Colonel Rhodes!” Steve exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “He’ll definitely know.”

“I call not calling him,” Clint said immediately. “The man is terrifying. He told me if I ever made Tony cry he’d make sure I never shoot an arrow again.”

Steve sighed. “I’ll do it. I’m sure he’ll be willing to tell me, one soldier to another.”

“Why on earth would I tell you?” The colonel asked. “That’s Tony’s business. If he hasn’t told you then he doesn’t want you to know.”

Luckily, Steve wasn’t above resorting to begging. “Please,” he said. “We just want to make him happy. He’s so distant. We-”

“Has it ever occurred to you that the thing he likes doing most is making others happy?” Jim interrupted.

Steve blanched. “Uh. No. I, that is to say we, didn’t think of that. Is that what it is?”

“No,” Jim told him. “But if you ask him, that’s what he’ll say. He’s been conditioned to give people things or else they’ll leave. He thinks that the thing he wants most is selfish, so he’ll never specifically request it.”

“Okay,” Steve said slowly, “but we’re not going to leave, no matter what. And we want him to quote, 'be selfish’ if that’s what it’s going to take to make him happy.”

Jim let out a long sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell you. His favorite thing to do is cuddle. But if you bring it up directly you’ll scare him off and I’ll never forgive you. You have to be subtle about it.”

Cuddling. Of course. That’s all that the colonel and Tony ever seemed to be doing when they were together.

Steve cleared his throat. “Thank you for telling me, sir. We’ll do our best with him, I swear.”

“Just remember,” Colonel Rhodes said, his voice dangerously low, “I know all your secrets. All of your weaknesses. If you hurt Tony in any way I will not hesitate. You’ll never see me coming.”

Steve gulped. “I understand. Thank you so much for your help, colonel. I’ll pass your, uh, message along to the rest of the team.”

“Please do.” Jim’s voice suddenly reverted back to pleasantness. “Have a good night, Captain. Tell the team I say hello.”

And with that the call disconnected.

\----------

Natasha went first in plan make-Tony-happy-through-cuddling.

“Instead of going to the spa, I think this time we should give each other makeovers and massages.”

Of course Tony was the only one surprised by this, since he had no idea they now knew his secret. “Really? Why? I’m happy to pay for it.”

Nat waved her hand dismissively. “It’s not about the money, I just think a DIY is better for bonding. No strangers listening in on our conversations, more … contact.”

There was skepticism written all over Tony’s face but no one else seemed to find this request strange, so he went with it.

Steve had the pleasure of giving Tony a massage. The man was  _tense_.

“Sorry,” Tony said quietly. “You don’t have to be thorough if it’s too much. I can just do you instead.”

Steve shook his head and dug his fingers a little more firmly into one of the geniuses many tension knots. He felt immense satisfaction as it dissipated and Tony melted a little bit beneath him. “I like giving massages,” he told Tony. “Feel free to come by for one any time.”

Tony craned his neck around to look at Steve consideringly. “Maybe I will.”

Overall the team considered that night a success.

When it was Clints turn, he’d scrounged up games from the internet, all of which required a lot of human contact.

“It’s literal team building!” He told Tony, when the man expressed doubt.

Tony’s face when he fell off of a stack made of Clint and Thor and into Steve’s arm that night was priceless.

Also a success.

The other Avengers also managed to incorporate some sort of human contact with their turns. (Preferably amongst themselves although Bruce’s hugs for heart disease idea had been awesome too.)

They all tried engaging Tony more outside of team bonding nights as well. Thor had the great idea to institute a mandatory communal dinner on Saturdays because, “Lady Darcy told me this is how families eat, and we are a family, are we not?” He used his puppy dog eyes on Tony when he tried to protest. No one could resist that.

They took turns bringing food down to Tony since he often forgot to eat. If they said they’d made it and needed someone to try it, he’d always be willing to give it a few bites.

Naturally though, he began to get suspicious. Tony was a genius, after all. So when it came to his turn and he said they should play party games starting with truth or dare, they all exchanged nervous glances.

It was fine for a few rounds. Clint was dared to post weird things to his twitter. They found out Thor’s favorite (earth) animal was the whale.

And then it came back around to Tony and he asked, “Steve, truth or dare.”

“Truth,” Steve said.

“Have you and the rest of the team been meeting together without me?” Tony asked quietly.

The room went silent.

“I guess that’s my answer.” Tony started to get up.

“No!” Steve blurted out. He winced. “I mean, yes, we have but it’s not what you think. Please stay, sweetheart. We’ll explain, I swear.”

If he didn’t fix this they were all dead. Colonel Rhodes would come for them. And worse, Tony would stay devastated.

Tony sank back down slowly. “You guys have been acting weird for a while.”

“We just thought the team needed better bonding,” Clint said.

The others glared at him.

“And you didn’t think you should include me in that conversation?” Tony asked. “I mean, I get it. I’m not really part of the team, I just make you guys things and let you live here for free.”

“No.” Natasha said firmly. “You are part of the team,  _Antoshka_. Don’t doubt that. We thought you needed better bonding. We wanted you to be as happy here as we are.”

“What makes you think I’m not happy?” Tony asked defensively.

“When Pepper broke up with you we didn’t see you for a week,” Bruce told him. “We barely see you at all  _now_. And we know you haven’t been bringing anyone home. You just seem … lonely.”

“I’m not lonely,” Tony mumbled, looking away.

“Our meetings were strategy to make you happier,” Thor said earnestly. “We wish you no ill will.”

“Well what happened?” Tony looked around the circle. “What did you guys think would make me happier?”

“ … Human contact,” Bruce admitted. “Even on a scientific level, touch is proven to decrease depression, trigger endorphins and oxytocin. You can literally go insane without it.”

“Oh.” Tony studiously didn’t look at any of them, studying the floor near his toes instead.

“Tony,” Steve said softly, “truth or dare?”

Tony looked up uncertainly. “Dare?”

“I dare you to come sit in my lap.”

Everyone watched with bated breath as Tony rose from his cross-legged position on the floor, walked the few feet across the circle, and plopped down into his captain’s lap.

“There.” Tony leaned back, taking Steve’s arms and putting them around his midsection. “Satisfied?”

“Are you … okay with this?” Bruce asked cautiously.

“Sure.” Tony was trying and failing to look nonchalant. “Cap is super comfy. You should all try him out.”

Clints face lit up mischievously. “You know what? That’s a great idea. Group cuddle bomb!”

The rest of the team sprang up and piled on top of Tony and Steve. They ended up in a giggling mess of tangled limbs.

“This isn’t so bad,” Tony allowed, from his place in the middle of the mass.

“We can do it whenever you want,” said Steve. “For as long as you want.”

“Really?” Tony asked, heartbreakingly insecure. “You guys really don’t mind doing this?”

“We’d love to show you physical affection all the time,” Thor said.

“Maybe not  _all_  the time, big guy,” Tony said cautiously. “But … yeah. I think I’d like that.”

The team bonding nights continued on after that.

Steve and Thor still liked learning.

Clint still liked having fun.

Natasha still liked to relax.

Bruce enjoyed helping people more than ever.

And Tony, he still picked varied activities, depending on the week. But now, every Tony night ended with the whole team crammed onto one couch, cuddling the heck out of each other, just talking.

Like a real family.

And best of all, Tony was finally happy.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based off of this prompt: You always see Steve and Bucky adding Tony or Steve and Tony adding Bucky to the relationship, but you rarely see Bucky and Tony adding Steve after the fact. What about something where either Steve didn't realize his feelings until Tony and Bucky were together, or wasn't ready to say anything until after they'd gotten together?? (Tumblr user dayzor)

Steve had been stomping around the tower in a storm cloud and no one knew why. Well, except Natasha. She knew everything.

He was becoming rapidly more aggressive, particularly around Tony and Bucky. Not physically. He’d never hurt them intentionally. But he was snappish and rude and short tempered, and he had a tendency to break whatever he was holding whenever Tony and Bucky did anything coupley. Which being newly in love, they did quite a lot, naturally.

Steve didn’t even realize his reaction was so noticeable. He was too busy feeling sorry for himself because he’d missed his chance.

First with Bucky, whom he’d thought he could never be with. Not in the 1900s. He’d loved Peggy, he really had, but they’d both had to suffer from the knowledge that she was his second choice.

Then Tony. They’d gotten off to a rocky start. Then it had developed into … Steve had thought it was flirting. It almost seemed like they were about to start an amazing natural relationship.

Then Bucky had come back. Steve had been torn. He didn’t want to be with Tony while he still had feelings for Bucky. That wouldn’t be fair. And Bucky had been recovering, plus Steve still had no idea if he was even interested.

He’d still been torn when Bucky and Tony had formed a strange bond over technology. Bucky let Tony build him a new arm and work on it whenever he’d liked. Tony explained things to Bucky who was simply fascinated by all the fancy gadgets the future had to offer. One thing had led to another and Steve had woken up one morning to their happy announcement. He could have sworn they’d both glanced at him when they’d said it. Probably wondering who he’d give the shovel talk to, considering they were his two best friends. And now he got to be jealous of both of them.

Steve hadn’t spoken to either Tony or Bucky about it, actually. He was still trying to pull himself together and face the fact that he was going to die alone.

Natasha was the one who fixed it, naturally. She had to do everything herself, since the other occupants of the tower were imbeciles, the lot of them. It only took nine words.

“Steve,” she said sharply, after he crushed yet another glass, shards and drops of blood flying everywhere. “Enough. Go talk to them like an adult.”

She was right, Steve thought, head drooping. He had to be mature about this. So even though he wasn’t quite ready, he sat down with Bucky and Tony. (gritting his teeth over the way they snuggled together on the long couch. There was plenty of room there for them to sit far apart.)

“So. Congratulations,” Steve managed, with an awful forced smile. “I hope you’ll be happy together. If one of you hurts the other I’ll give you a harsh glare of disappointment.” His attempt at humor fell horribly flat.

Tony and Bucky exchanged a glance, making Steve grind his teeth more firmly.

“That's … all?” Tony asked. He looked almost disappointed.

“Of course.” Steve’s face was starting to cramp from the fake smile. “What else is there to say?”

“Don’t bullshit us, Stevie.” Bucky glared at him. “We know that’s not all you wanna say.”

“Bucky, don’t,” Tony murmured, tugging his arm. “I told you he probably wasn’t interested.”

Steve clearly wasn’t supposed to have heard that, but everyone kept forgetting about his enhanced hearing. Before he could stop it, a flame of hope blossomed in his chest. “Interested how?”

“Interested … interested,” Tony told him cautiously. “We thought you liked us both.”

“Were we wrong?” Bucky challenged.

“No. You, you weren’t.” Steve could hardly believe his ears, enhanced hearing and all. “And you’re both … interested?”

“Stevie.” Bucky rolled his eyes affectionately. “You wanna know what Tony an’ I bonded over the most?”

“It was you,” Tony said, before Steve could respond. “And how you’re stubborn, and reckless, and brave.”

“And how we’re both goddamn near in love with you,” Bucky added softly.

Steve just gaped at them.

“C'mere.” Bucky patted the couch, making a space between him and Tony. “There’s plenty o’ room right here between us.”

Steve stood up dazedly. It all seemed to good to be true. And yet.

“We were waiting for you to join us yourself,” Tony said softly. “We thought it was obvious.”

It was real. This was really happening. Steve settled on the couch in between his two new loves, and they immediately draped themselves over him.

“This is perfect,” he whispered.

He really had to thank Natasha.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based off of this prompt: “Yo, Stark! What do you want from the store?”
> 
> “You’re actually going to a store? Why on Earth would you do that when I can have JARVIS speed order whatever you want and have it delivered in an hour?”
> 
> “Uh… cause shopping can be fun and we’re all dying of boredom here?”
> 
> “…”
> 
> “Wait have you never…? We’re going right now, get your shoes on.” (Tumblr user tonystarkismyprompt)

“Yo, Stark!” Clint called from the kitchen. “What do you want from the store?”

Tony frowned, tilting his head away from the TV. “You’re actually going to a store? Why on Earth would you do that when I can have JARVIS speed order whatever you want and have it delivered in an hour?”

Clint was suddenly in the doorway. “Uh … Cuz shopping can be fun and we’re all dying of boredom here?”

Tony shrugged and turned his attention back to the (admittedly boring) news.

Clint’s eyes widened. “Wait … Have you never … ?”

“Never what?” Tony asked irritably. “Shopped in an actual store? I guess I haven’t. What’s the big deal?”

“Nope.” Clint crossed his arms. “It is a big deal and you’re coming with me right now. Get your shoes on. Even Thor has been grocery shopping, holy shit.”

There was no use protesting. The archer clearly wasn’t going to take no for an answer. 

With a sigh, Tony turned the TV off (even though Jarvis could have done that too) and tugged on a pair of sneakers.

“Guys!!” Clint hollered, “Tony’s never been to a store before so I’m bringing him! Let’s go!”

“Wait, who’s coming?”

“We all are.” Steve appeared in the doorway and Tony had to blink a couple of times to be sure that yes, this was Steve Rogers in a hoodie and sweats, sans any uniform or shield.

“And you’re going like that?”

“It’s a grocery store, Tony. Not a MET gala.”

Tony shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I just thought captain tightasses version of civillian wear included a lot more flannel.”

“Our boy’s not as much of a tightass as you’d think,” Natasha informed him. “Now let’s go.”

Tony huffed. “Fine. But you can’t make me enjoy it.” He trudged reluctantly after Bruce. 

Clint walked next to him chatting eagerly. “Jeez Tony, this is awesome. We get to pop your store cherry!”

Vaguely, Tony wondered when Clint had started calling him by his first name. “Well savor it arrow boy, cuz it’s the only first you’re gonna get.”

Clint gave him an absolutely filthy grin and Tony’s stomach swooped. “We’ll see about that.” The archer winked and licked his lips and- what was happening here?

Was Barton … flirting with him?

No. Tony shook himself out of it. Obviously not. 

They walked to the nearest supermarket despite Tony’s protests that his many cars were at their disposal. Even Thor looked disapprovingly at him for that one. 

“Alright!” Clint said once they had made it to the store. The team quickly dispersed without a backwards glance. “Everyone’s got their shopping lists except you so you’re coming with me.” Then he _grabbed Tony’s hand_  and tugged him to the frozen food aisle. 

Obviously Tony’s brain did not short circuit at that point. Because he hadn’t been harboring a teensy tinsy bit of a crush on the archer for about a week- definitely not. 

To cover up his awkward almost blush, he raised an eyebrow judgily. “Is this all you eat?” He gestured at Clint’s basket which was already filled with TV dinners and tater tots. 

“I eat vegetables when someone on the team makes them,” Clint defended. “Besides, you don’t have a leg to stand on. I’ve hardly seen you eat anything besides coffee.” He piled packages of food into the basket he’d made Tony take as well.

“I eat smoothies,” Tony said. “And chocolate.”

Clint rolled his eyes. “And how many of those smoothies have motor oil in them?” He asked. Clint started walking. “Come on, we need to find Cap and Natasha.”

“Why them?” Tony asked, following. 

“They’re the ones with the cart,” Clint explained. “You didn’t think this was all we were getting, did you?”

“Well yeah, I thought you were just going to use me to carry your extra stuff,” Tony admitted, brandishing his basket. “Why don’t you all just take carts?”

“Draws less attention if only one or a few of us check out. Oh look, there’s Nat!”

Natasha was leaning idly against the side of a cart while Steve stood at the front of it, consulting a list.

 Clint waved enthusiastically as they walked up to the duo. He dumped his basket unceremoniously into the cart. “Me and Tony got all the junk.”

“Tony and I,” Steve corrected.

Tony put the contents of his basket into the cart slightly nicer than Clint had, rolling his eyes. “Jeez, Cap starts taking classes and suddenly he’s gotta school all of us.”

“Noice!” Clint hooted. He and Tony high fived. “Okay I can see Bruce and Thor already stopped by, so I’m going to drag this genius around to get the true shopping experience. Feel free to leave without us.”

Steve nodded absently, crossing something off his list. “Have fun.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Nat called after them, her sharp green eyes glinting.

Clint had grabbed Tony’s hand again and was pulling him along, talking a mile a minute and pointing things out left and right. He was unfairly adorable, like a blond, short-haired, peppy mutt. A cross between a golden retriever and a corgi maybe, Tony mused.

“Oh and here,” Clint said. “See that girl? She’s giving out free samples. Free samples are literally the best part of shopping.”

“Why?” Tony asked, his eyebrows together.

Clint shrugged. “Free stuff?

“Fair enough,” Tony conceded. He’d never had to rely on free stuff but he could understand that people with less than him enjoyed it.  And … he could see why Clint liked going to the supermarket so much. It was nice, the anonymity, being surrounded by people who weren’t expecting anything of him, and of course, food. 

There was the current added bonus of Tony’s company too of course. 

“So how’d you figure out that Bruce and Thor had finished up already?” Tony asked. 

“Easy,” Clint snorted. “Bruce only gets tea and Thor only gets poptarts. They were already in the cart. Cap and Natasha always get everything else.”

“Oh.” Tony honestly hadn’t noticed. Now it seemed obvious.

“Assassin,” Clint reminded him. “It’s my job to notice things.”

Tony’s stomach swooped for the second time that day. He really hoped that didn’t include noticing when someone was into him because then Tony was royally screwed.  _And_  it meant that Clint didn’t return his feelings and was being nice to him anyways. Ouch. 

After they both got free samples of chips and guac and were continuing to walk the store, Clint stopped quite suddenly in front of the fruit. “Need any smoothie ingredients?” He asked, doing a 180 to look at Tony. Their faces were uncomfortably close.

Tony licked his lips, suddenly unable to look away from Clint’s. “Nope, I’m good.”

“Okay.” Clint hesitated. “You know, I’m really glad you came with us today Tony.”

“I’m glad I came too,” Tony said, surprising himself with just how much sincerity was in his tone. “It’s fun.”

“Yeah,” Clint said. He licked his lips, and Tony flashed back to how he’d done it this morning, suggestively. Now it seemed more … shy? “But I’m like, really glad Tony. Because you know, I really like you.”

Tony was 78% sure he meant in just a friend way, but hey. He was Tony Stark. He took chances and went after what he wanted. So he bridged the gap between them and laid one on Clint, right in front of the grapes. 

To Tony’s relief, Clint kissed him back,  _thank G-d_. 

Clint gripped the front of Tony’s shirt and made a desperate little noise. Gosh dangit, Tony found it cute. He was screwed. 

But grocery shopping? Grocery shopping was great. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Might I interest you in, instead of Obie paying the Ten Rings to kill Tony at a demo in Afghanistan, he tries to hire M'Baku and his tribe when Tony gets a spot in a conference for Wakanda's entrance to the world? Requested by @Shi-Toyu on tumblr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay look, this was honestly a mess™ but I thought it was hilarious bc I’m a loser. I took some liberties oops.

Tony knew something was off when he got kidnapped. It was a pretty clear red flag.

Although honestly, what was more worrying was the fact that he’d been taken straight out of King T’challa’s heavily guarded palace and the Dora Milaje weren’t exactly easy – or possible – to get past.

He woke up  tied to a chair ( _amatures_ , he thought disgustedly) with a bag over his head. The bag wasn’t the regular rough burlap though, it was something much more breathable and soft. Strange.

Without warning, the sack was yanked off and he found himself blinking up at his captor. “Wow,” he said. “For a big guy you sure move quietly. Didn’t even hear you coming. Kudos.” There were a bunch of other guys standing around, spears at the ready. They were all huge, but not as big as the one right in his face.

The giant man’s forehead scrunched up in confusion. “You don’t seem very scared, colonizer.”

Okay, so this guy was probably Wakandan. He definitely had the accent, although it differed slightly from T’challa’s. Tony shrugged. He was terrified, but really? This was same old same old. And his heart was beating really fast but it was more from looking at the guy’s super muscular muscles than anything.

“So you are Tony stark. The man Obadiah Stane wanted me to kill,” Gorilla guy said, stroking his unfairly symmetrical chin. Gorilla guy was a good nickname, right? Because the guy was sure built like one. Then his words registered.

“Wait- You- Obie?” No. it couldn’t be. Maybe some other person, using Obadiah’s identity.

“This man.” A picture was thrust in front of his face and yup, that was definitely him. His captor took in his expression. “You are surprised.”

“Well … yeah,” Tony said defensively. “I mean why on earth would he- oh. Weapons.”

Gorilla guy was looking angry now. “What weapons?”

“The ones I refused to build,” Tony said bitterly. “I’m trying to turn my company in a new direction. Technology for clean energy. Guess he hated that more than I thought.” His arms were starting to ache from being tied behind him. “Look, he probably paid you a lot of money to kill me but I can double whatever it is.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” the man said.

Tony cocked his head. “You’re not?” Well that was a plot twist.

“You seem honest,” Gorilla guy told him. “I have no interest in your American money, Hanuman provides everything my tribe needs.”

“Who?” Tony asked, feeling a little lost.

The man grunted in annoyance. “Never mind. I suppose I should let you go.” he signaled to one of his men, who stepped forward and let Tony’s hands free.

“O-okay,” Tony said, at a complete loss. He rubbed at his wrists where there was strangely no rope burn. This had literally never happened before. “Uhh can I get your name, big guy?” The men in the background snickered.

The man drew himself up proudly, somehow managing to appear even bigger. “I am M’baku. Leader of the Jabari tribe.”

“Right, right,” Tony muttered. “So no offense, why aren’t you killing me? Also, how’d you even get me?”

“Stane heard we were savages,” M’baku said distastefully. “He offered us what I assume is a large sum of money to capture and kill you.”

“And you’re not going with that, because?” Tony prompted.

“We are not savages!” M’baku roared. “We have our own justice system that does not include mercenary work.You have done nothing wrong in any case. And as I told you, we have no need for money.”

“Well I’m certainly not complaining,” Tony said. “How’d you manage the kidnapping though?”

M’baku smiled a mischievous large smile that set Tony’s heart fluttering a little. “King T’challa let us take you.”

“I suppose I’ll be having a word with him,” Tony said mildly. Or not. Was this even a kidnapping? He’d only even stayed tied up for like two seconds. (lame)

“Ahh, don’t blame him,’ M’baku said, waving his hand dismissively. “I told him I wanted you to warm my bed if you were so willing. He didn’t know about Stane.”

Tony nearly choked over his haste to reply. “Well it seems a shame to lie to him like that.”

M’baku stared him down. “Who said that was a lie?”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: After Wakanda is introduced to the world Tony pays them a visit. Shuri leaves him alone for a second to check on something and M’Baku swoops in to flirt. (From @Lupinthealchemist on Tumblr)

Tony honestly couldn’t believe how lucky he was. The first (and possibly only) American inventor invited directly into Wakanda’s labs. Princess Shuri was showing him around. She was pretty down to earth for a princess. Funny too, even if a lot of her humor seemed to revolve around making fun of other people. And puns. So many puns.

“When I heard of your work on AIs, Doctor Stark,” she said, “I knew I must meet you. It’s one of the only things of yours I haven’t been able to replicate or improve.”

“It’s Tony,” He said automatically. No one ever called him ‘doctor’. “And it’s an honor to be here. I’d be happy to help you out with making your own algorithm.”

“Amazing!” Shuri beamed at him and Tony couldn’t help smiling back. She was great. Her and Peter would definitely get along.

Shuri led him through the labs, explaining everything they passed to him. It was quite frankly, insanely fascinating. Impressive, too! She was barely 17.

Just as they were passing a black panther suit prototype, one of Shuri’s Kimoyo beads pinged with an incoming message.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I must take this.” she hurried off for privacy. “Do not touch anything while I’m gone!” she called back to him.

Tony stepped carefully back from the tech and wandered around in circles, peering closely but never touching. He had to be respectful, after all.

There were a few other people in the lab, but they mostly ignored him and he avoided getting in their way. Until- “You know that the princess was only joking.” The words were a question phrased as a statement.

Tony turned to find a super handsome man looming over him. “Big.” He said.

The man shrugged. “Yes, big enough to carry you around if you’d like.” He nodded at Tony. “M’baku. Leader of the Jabari tribe. Princess Shuri allows me entrance into her lab when I’m bored.”

“Tony Stark,” Tony replied. “But I can be anyone for you, big guy. And I’d appreciate that … ride.”

M’baku smiled smugly at him. “I can most definitely arrange that.”

Footsteps signaled Shuri’s return.

“Are you flirting with the scientist?” She scolded. “Don’t lead him on like that.”

“I am not leading him on!” M’baku protested. “I fully mean to follow through with anything I say.”

She wrinkled up her nose. “Then not in my lab!”

Tony quickly tried to apologize but M’baku just rolled his eyes. “Your dumb vibranium weapons will not be defiled if we flirt a little in front of them.”

“I will not allow you back in,” Shuri warned him severely.

“Okay, okay!” M’baku held his hands up in surrender. He turned to Tony. “Would you like to dine with me tonight?”

Tony glanced at Shuri, who shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “Just dine?”

M’baku’s smile turned lascivious. “Well we don’t have to just … dine. Shuri does not want her weapons defiled but perhaps you would not be opposed.”

“I am surprisingly Very Okay with That,” Tony announced. That was a lie. It was not surprising at all.

“Okay good,” M’baku said. “Then I shall see you at 7:00.” And with that he turned and swaggered off.

(It was fun to watch him go)

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How about a shifter au with panther!T'Challa and silver back gorilla!M'Baku being all fierce and powerful and trying to figure out what Tony is. (From @ Shi-Toyu on tumblr)

T’challa and M’baku were both quite powerful alpha shifters. T’challa had already been a panther, just genetically, but he was further strengthened by the heart-shaped herb. His shifted form stood at M’baku’s shoulder height, indisputably a massive cat. 

M’baku’s shifted form was a regular sized silverback gorilla. That is to say, also quite large. Combine that with their tallness in human form, and people often found them at least a little bit intimidating. If not alone, then definitely as a pair. 

Quite a formidable pair they made, mated leaders of Panther and Jabari tribes. They’d united all the clans, bringing the utmost peace upon Wakanda. And they were quite happy, just the two of them . . . that is until they met a certain omega shifter named Tony Stark. 

America had quite a different culture compared to the rest of the world. Most countries put a lot of emphasis on shifted forms. There were elaborate rituals and ceremonies that revolved heavily around shifting that ‘developed’ countries were beginning to do less and less. 

Even though Tony Stark was Iron Man and very much in the public eye, nobody knew what his shifted form was. There was speculation, of course. A popular vote was kitten, although his haters were more likely to say things that they considered nasty, like a shrew. 

When T’challa and M’baku began to court Tony they assumed he’d at least tell  _ them _ . And as he became more and more enraptured with Wakanda and began more frequent trips, they’d invited him to join the shifting ceremonies. But no. Tony remained in human form, and refused to disclose what his shift was. 

“If we guess correctly would you tell us?” M’baku asked once.

“Fine.” Tony had said. 

From that moment on, a least once a day, each of them would find a new animal to try. They simply couldn’t get it. 

It turned out they didn’t have to. Loki attacked New York while the kings were staying in Stark Tower so naturally, they helped out with the fight. Tony was hit with twice. The first time the bolt of scarlet light made his suit disappear. He free-fell through the sky until Clint’s Hawk form caught him and deposited him safely on the ground. 

The stubborn fool wouldn’t get to safety. M’baku and T’challa (in their shifted forms) tried to protect him as best they could- but alas, a streak of light blue made its way past them and hit Tony square in the chest. 

M’baku bellowed and T’challa roared. They ran towards where Tony had been standing. The dust cleared and-

The cutest creature they had ever seen was standing where their mate had been, shivering and making a strange whistling sound through it’s adorable nose.

It caught sight of them and startled, like it was about to bolt. They halted, shifting back into their human forms, completely ignoring the battle that was winding down around them. 

Apparently Loki had also been distracted by Tony, and Thor had finally managed to subdue him. Rhodey landed next to them and stepped out of his suit with a sigh.

“He’s a dikdik,” T’challa breathed. Neither of them had been expecting an African animal. No wonder Tony liked Wakanda and the heat so much. It was all both of them could do not to start cooing over him.

“Yeah,” Rhodey said. “And you shift into one of his natural predators. So let me.” He approached the tiny little antelope, one hand out, and Tony went to him calmly, even allowing Rhodey to pick him up. 

Loki let out a cackle. “Ha! The great Iron man, that miniscule little creature.”

“Undo your spell, Loki,” Thor growled. “Stark does not wish to be seen like this.”

The trickster shrugged. “He can shift back whenever he’s calm enough to do so.”

M’baku and T’challa looked at Tony expectantly, surprised to see him still in dikdik form.

Rhodey winced. “That’s why he never shifts. It’s hard for him to get out of it.”

“Let us take him back to the tower and calm him down then,” T’challa suggested.

“Fine. Make sure he doesn’t run. He’s super fast.” Rhodey transferred the squirming body over to M’baku, who cradled Tony with reverence. “Hello there little one,” he murmured. “I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t wish to share this beauty with us.”

Tony started to make the whistling noise again. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: T'Challa finding out that M'Baku, who hates all outsiders with a fiery, burning passion, has been having an ongoing tryst with Tony Stark for literally *years* and continually snuck him into the country just for cuddles. (From @Shi-Toyu on Tumblr)

T’challa stared at the scene in front of him. And stared. And stared. And stared.

Finally he cleared his throat loudly, and M’baku leaped to his feet, the blanket caught around his shoulders. The man in bed with him. The outsider in bed with him. Made a pathetic squeaky noise of protest as the covers were ripped away.

“Guards!” M’baku barked.

Nothing happened.

“I assume you gave them the night off,” T’challa said. “So that you and- wait. Is that Tony Stark?”

“That’s me,” the man said, his face partially obscured by a pillow. He still sounded half asleep. 

“So that you and Stark could.” T’challa stopped short. M’baku was wearing pants. Tony was fully clothed. They had both been asleep. “Cuddle?”

“Yes, and what about it?” M’baku looked irritated.

“You hate outsiders,” T’challa said, entirely unable to understand. “Just yesterday you were criticising me for opening Wakanda to the world again.”

M’baku rolled his eyes. “Obviously that doesn’t apply to Tony.”

“Why on earth wouldn’t that apply to him?” T’challa demanded. Not that he had anything against Tony Stark, but what in Bast’s name was going on here?

“Because.” M’baku said. That was it, that was his answer.

Another thought occured to T’challa. “How long has this been going on?”

“ … A while,” M’baku admitted grudgingly.

“Since before Wakanda’s borders opened?”

“Since …” M’baku stopped. “Wait. Why are you even here?”

He was dodging the question. Oh Bast, he’d been seeing Stark since before the whole thing with Killmonger. This was insane. T’challa’s brain could not compute.

“You were supposed to eat dinner with my family tonight,” he said. “You never came.”

“Aww, you were worried,” M’baku teased.

T’challa scowled. “Well I came here to find your home deserted, and a white man in your bed. Of course I was worried.”

“You came to check on me,” M’baku said delightedly. “You do care!”

From the bed, Tony let out a long low groan. “Can you guys please either leave or come back to bed? I’m trying to sleep here.”

M’baku wrapped the blanket he’d been holding around Tony and ran his hand over the man’s hair. There was a tenderness in his eyes that T’challa had seldom seen there before. “We won’t disturb you any further, my love,” he promised.

T’challa’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. ‘My love’???? Apparently this was much more serious than he’d realized.

“Anyways.” M’baku looked at T’challa. “I am fine, you have seen it. You are welcome to leave now.”

“Or join,” Tony said, his voice still muffled.

“Or join,” M’baku amended.

T’challa gaped at him. There was only one obvious answer. He joined them.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: M'Baku at some political meeting with T'Challa and Tony too. M'Baku is standoffish at first, he doesn't like the outsiders much, or the use of vibranium in everything, but warms up somewhat when he realizes how much Tony built without vibranium. (Tony may be as curious and invested in Jabari culture and weapons as he is in shuri's research?) (From @wrenchirps on tumblr)

It wasn’t so much a meeting as a convention. Scientific minds from all over the world were gathered in Wakanda to share and show off their technology. 

Despite Wakanda’s clearly superior well, everything, most of the people didn’t see all that intrigued by Shuri’s invention. (Wow. He wondered why. *Cough* racism).

There were a few exceptions, but by far the most notable of them was Tony Stark. 

He approached Shuri’s tech with something bordering reverence shining in his eyes, and his curiosity was disarming. 

At first M’baku was irritated. Of course he’d be obsessed with vibranium. Everyone was obsessed with the vibranium. 

It turned out Stark didn't care about the metal though, just the inventions themselves. He spent at least an hour walking around a prototype spear rubbing his face and muttering to himself. M’baku caught the words “Convert to nanotech.” So. That was intriguing. 

And then a while later, Tony was standing near him, looking at the Jabari technology. (T’challa had insisted the Jabari come too.) “Is this . . . Is this wood?” he asked.

M’baku bristled at the small American’s disbelief. “Yes. It is sacred wood, imbued with the power of-”

“Hanuman,” Tony interrupted. His pronunciation was horribly butchered but M’baku was caught off guard by his knowledge. 

Tony’s eyes were shining much the same way they had when looking at Shuri’s work. It was quite disarming having that gaze turned upon him. “You’re M’baku, right?”

M’baku nodded. 

“Wow, it’s an honor to meet you!” Tony said. “I tried learning all I could about the different tribes of Wakanda before I came, yours was by far the most interesting. Probably because it’s so . . . different. Is it true that the Jabari don’t use Vibranium at all?”

“We have no need for it.” M’baku nodded. “You don’t seem to either.”

Tony’s face lit up. “Oh yeah, I’m working with Nanotechnology now. I might not be as strong as Vibranium but it regenerates infinitely.”

Stark was very cute with his face all aglow and enthusiastic. M’baku wanted to see more of it. “Can you show me?” he asked.

Tony absolutely beamed. “Of course!”

The nanotech was amazing. And no, M’baku wasn’t just saying that because of how fuckable Tony looked while explaining how he’d managed to make it work. He was a human demonstration, wearing a tight black undersuit for effect, so that everyone could see how well fitted the nanoparticles that crept out over his skin was. The effect of the suit covering him was like a reverse strip-tease and it gave M’baku quite the same reaction. It was all he could do not to drag Tony into a secluded hallway and have his way with him. 

When the demonstration was done and M’baku was inappropriately close to popping a full on boner, Tony beamed at him again. “So your majesty, I’d really love to know more about your tech, and your culture and . . . you.”

Unable to hold himself back, M’baku pulled him in by that ridiculously tight shirt and kissed him thoroughly.

“That can be arranged,” he promised. 

And he knew it was mutual, because Tony absolutely lit up. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr if you want!


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